


Solace in Sonnets

by Wheely_Jessi



Series: How Do I Love Thee? [2]
Category: Call the Midwife
Genre: Communication, Correspondence, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Love Poems, Poetry, Puns & Word Play, Secrets, Separation, Sonnets, Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-10-21 01:25:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10674837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wheely_Jessi/pseuds/Wheely_Jessi
Summary: A sonnet cycle between Patsy and Delia whilst Patsy is away in Hong Kong.





	1. I - Delia to Patsy

**Author's Note:**

> As @CynicalRainbows can attest, since our university days I have had a habit and hobby of writing sonnet cycles between my favourite fictional couples. These two weren't going to get one, because it didn't seem in character, but then Phyllis lent Delia her copy of Lorca poems and I couldn't help myself.
> 
> I've held onto them for the last month (since the S6 Finale) though, because there doesn't seem to be much poetry on this fandom - so please leave a comment if you'd like me to continue to upload the rest. (There are 9, there should be 10 for balance, but Pats didn't write the last one...)
> 
> Special mentions to @CynicalRainbows, @patiencebusby and Eve for persuading me to exit my comfort zone and post.

‘We’ll write, we’ll wait, we’ll love’ was what we said,

so now, in pen, I bare my thoughts to you,

for, else, they wrangle loudly in my head

and keep me from the work that I must do.

The other girls all have the joy of speech;

to make their feelings known is not a crime.

For me, such luxury is out of reach,

since none but us may know that you are mine.

To help me breathe amid this silent torture,

I’ve made recourse to writing poetry –

inspired by a borrowed book of Lorca,

tho’, next to you, he’s paltry company.

My thanks for this support must go to Phyllis

whose gift has given me linguistic bliss.


	2. II - Patsy to Delia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patsy's turn to get poetic ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continued with huge thanks for the lovely feedback on the first one! <3

‘How do I love thee?’ wrote dear Barrett Browning

(she far more bold than I could ever be)

but I suppose I love you most when frowning,

which you are, I guess, whilst I’m away at sea.

In no way would that please my arrogance –

far from it, since you know I’m insecure –

but rather it’d express my penitence

for all that you must face without me there.

I know, of course, that you will meet it bravely,

just as you do with all else in your life,

but I still want to guide you through it safely –

for, after all, you’re _my_ ‘trouble and strife’!

I’m sorry that I’ve left you all alone

with no clue of how long I may be gone. 


	3. III - Delia to Patsy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Delia gives Patsy a gentle telling off ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is possibly the fluffiest fluff I have ever written for these two (yet) ... hopefully it'll make up for the major angst that seems to characterise my usual style. Fluff is somehow easier in poetry than in prose!

What have I told you are the rules on ‘sorries’?

Why, that there shall be none between us two.

If anyone has had their share of worries,

dear Pats, I’d sooner say that it was you.

Of course I am bereft we’re not together,

and many thousand miles keep us apart,

but there have been much greater storms to weather

and you must know you’re always in my heart.

You kept me yours when I could not remember,

and when my Mam had bundled me off home –

d’you think all that is something I’d surrender,

when I’m so glad that you are mine, alone?

As long as I may call you ‘cariad’,

the distance somehow seems not quite so bad.


	4. IV - Patsy to Delia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patsy's ode to Delia's accent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly fluff again in this one - hopefully acceptable! Huge thanks for the lovely feedback so far <3

You really are a darling, dearest Deels,

and know how best to calm my jangled nerves –

when I ponder just how blissful your love feels,

I think it must be more than I deserve.

And, with your accent’s soft way of caressing,

there really could be no comparison

alongside all the stern and cold harassing

so firmly fixed into the _English_ tongue.

Or at least in my Received Pronunciation,

where every word can sound almost the same,

it’s hard to emphasise the declaration

of love I make each time I breathe your name.

So I must offer Nurse Crane gratitude;

I now have verse t’express my attitude!


	5. V - Delia to Patsy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Delia's ode to Patsy's accent ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm uploading this today because I thought these two deserved not to miss a week of communication (they didn't get many after all!) and as I'd already written it ages ago I thought we could all use some fluff <3

There never was a woman, Pats, more silly

than you, my love, to write such things to me.

No other voice can make me feel as giddy

as when I’m greeted by ‘Nurse Mount’s RP.

To answer if such feelings are deserved,

I’ll simply say I’m sending you a hug,

for we’ve long since agreed that you’ll reserve

your self-doubt and allow me best to judge.

You waited many months for _my_ return

(and back then we’d no solace in our letters).

Such strong a will as this has doubtless earned

some reciprocity, if not far better!

As you have proved that you will not forget me

I now just want t’love you – and you to let me!


	6. VI - Patsy to Delia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sincerity and humour from 'Nurse Mount', with some surprisingly apt references to hot weather (given that I wrote this in March).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As fluffy as I could manage, with huge thanks for the support and love to everyone struggling right now too.

I send this verse, then, to ‘my dear Nurse Busby’

as we’ve adopted such modes of address

tho' I now have diff’rent duties that must rush me –

not babies, but a father in distress.

Oh, Deels, how I miss the noise of Poplar,

the crowds in which one may just disappear...

for I’m the only company I’ve got here

and heat forbids a jaunt for some fresh air.

This silent house makes me nurse, sister, daughter

but I am none of these in heart or soul;

my mother is not here, and so, without her,

I recall how far my family is from whole.

Yet, as I sit alone, I think of you

and how we’ve forged a family anew.


	7. VII - Delia to Patsy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deels comforts Pats, whilst also highlighting their shared struggle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As fluffy as I could make this within the framework of Delia's honesty.

Oh Pats, the noise of Poplar seems so quiet

and crowds no longer comfort by their mass

because these days, however hard I try it,

I can’t spot in them your smiles or your laughs.

I did not want to tell you how you’re missed

(you carry enough burdens over there)

but it does seem an age since we last kissed

or I last gazed upon your ginger hair.

That isn’t to dismiss your loneliness –

far from it, since to read it hurts so much –

it’s merely to inform you that I guess

and wish we could turn rhymes into a _cwtch_.

I’m sure your Mam and Gracie would be proud;

your work sings both their memories aloud.


	8. VIII - Patsy to Delia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluffy, fluffy, fluffy adoration from Patsy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some fluff to make up for the angst I write mostly and for the fact that it's the penultimate sonnet - I think this might be my fluffiest Patsy so far!
> 
> Hopefully it suffices - thanks so much for the love you've shown my little poetic project.
> 
> Also a reminder that if you're in the UK and are registered, today is the day to vote if you haven't already <3

It’s funny how our homes are not in places,

or solid things built on a patch of earth,

but rather in small groupings of dear faces

with whom we share our sadness and our mirth.

And you, dear Deels, are such a one for me –

you shall forever be my guiding star.

My safest corner now shall always be

wherever on this planet that you are.

You know I struggle mustering up pride

for any small success I may achieve

but I’ll always thrill to have you by my side

whatever else this old world may believe.

I hope I’m not much longer from Nonnatus;

when back, I swear that nothing more will part us!


	9. IX - Delia to Patsy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Delia gets fluffy (and *slightly* smutty)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are at the last one! With hope that it lives up to expectations and with the hugest thanks for sticking with these little linguistic foibles of mine - your kind words mean so much <3

My flame-haired goddess has become so feisty!

Perhaps it’s done you good to be away!?

Yet still, my dear, I must admit I’m hasty

and hardly think I’ll cope another day.

Of course I’m glad that you are with your father

and would not dream of wishing you home soon –

but Tom will shortly marry our dear Barbara

and p’raps, at last, we’ll get to share a room...

I know it won’t be as good as our flat,

and we’ll still be circumspect in case of nuns,

but I think I am prepared to handle that

if't means that we can linger and not run.

I’ll hold on, love, whilst you’re still out of sight

if you can promise regularly to write.


End file.
